5 Mins
05 Jan 2026
They are all small. They are all green — mostly. They all show up in salads, bowls, and health food posts online, often with the wrong name. Sprouts, microgreens, and baby greens get used interchangeably, but they are three different things at three different stages of a plant's life, with different flavours, textures, and uses.
Sprouts
A sprout is a seed that has just begun to germinate. It has been soaked in water, allowed to crack open, and grown for two to five days — usually in water or in a jar, without any soil. What you eat is the whole thing: seed, root, and the very first pale shoot.
Sprouts are the youngest of the three. They have a mild, slightly nutty flavour and a watery crunch. Moong sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, and bean sprouts are the most common in Indian kitchens. They are quick to grow, inexpensive, and have been a part of everyday cooking long before microgreens became popular.
Because sprouts grow in warm, moist conditions without soil, they require careful hygiene. The same environment that helps the seed germinate is also friendly to bacteria, which is why sprouts are typically rinsed thoroughly and often lightly cooked before eating.
Microgreens
Microgreens are one step further along. A seed is planted in soil or a growing medium, given light, and harvested after the first true leaves appear — typically between 7 and 21 days. You eat the stem and leaves; the root stays behind in the soil.
This is where flavour gets interesting. Because the plant has had time to develop leaves and begin photosynthesising, microgreens carry the concentrated flavour of the mature plant. A radish microgreen tastes distinctly peppery. A sunflower microgreen is nutty. Beetroot microgreens are earthy and sweet, with vivid magenta stems. Basil microgreens taste like basil — not a faint suggestion of it, but the real thing in a tiny leaf.
The flavour intensity is the main reason chefs use microgreens. They are not decoration. They are a finishing ingredient — small enough to place precisely, flavourful enough to register in every bite.
At Krishi Cress, we grow over twenty varieties of microgreens on our own farms, from single-variety packs like pea shoots and coriander to ready-made blends like the Rainbow Micro Mix and Spicy Micro Mix.
Baby Greens
Baby greens are the oldest of the three — but still young. These are plants that have been allowed to grow past the microgreen stage, developing several sets of true leaves, but harvested before they reach full maturity. They are bigger, sturdier, and closer to what you would recognise as a salad leaf.
Baby spinach is the most familiar example — softer and sweeter than mature spinach, with a milder flavour that works raw. Baby tatsoi has a gentle, slightly mustardy taste and a spoon-shaped leaf that holds dressing well. Baby mizuna is feathery and peppery, common in Japanese cooking and increasingly popular in Indian salads. Baby beetroot leaves are earthy with a hint of sweetness, and their deep colour adds visual contrast to any bowl.
Baby greens are the most versatile of the three for everyday cooking. They work in salads, sandwiches, wraps, and as a bed for grains, proteins, or roasted vegetables. They are sturdier than microgreens, which means they hold up better to dressing, tossing, and a bit of heat.
So Which Should You Use
It depends on what you are making.
Sprouts work best where you want bulk and crunch — in a chaat, a stir-fry, or a sandwich filling. Microgreens work best as a finishing touch — added last, raw, for flavour and precision. Baby greens work best as the foundation — the base of a salad, the layer in a wrap, the green on a plate.
They are not substitutes for each other. They are three different tools, and using the right one in the right place is what makes the difference.
Explore our full range of microgreens and baby greens, grown on our farms and delivered fresh across Delhi NCR and Chandigarh.
